Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan proclaims Constitution Week

Clarksville, TN – Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan met Thursday with members of the Captain William Edmiston Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to proclaim Constitution Week in Clarksville.

The United States Constitution stands as this country’s enduring governmental roadmap and a testament to the tenacity of Americans throughout history to maintain their liberties, freedoms and inalienable rights.

“As mayor and as a lawyer, I think about the Constitution every day,” Mayor McMillan told the local DAR members. “In fact, our City Charter serves as the constitution of the city, and I often think about the relationship of these two foundational documents.”

Constitution Week, celebrated annually during the week of September 17th-23rd, is a time to learn more about this important document and celebrate the freedoms it gave us.

The aims of Constitution Week are to:

• Emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution.
• Inform people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s great heritage and the foundation for our way of life.
• Encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.

Locally, DAR members have set up a display at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library, are distributing Constitution Kits in schools and will attend a bell-ringing celebration next week at the Capitol in Nashville.

In 1955, DAR petitioned Congress to set aside September 17th-23rd annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into public law on August 2nd, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The DAR has also erected a structure that is built in tribute to the Constitution of the United States. DAR Constitution Hall, which is a performing arts center, opened in 1929.

Clarksville Proclamation

Constitution Week

WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of our government in a Republic dedicated to rule by law; and

WHEREAS, September 17, 2016, marks the two hundred twenty-ninth anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary; and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion

WHEREAS, Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th through 23rd as Constitution Week;

Now, Therefore, I, Kim McMillan, Mayor of the City of Clarksville, do hereby proclaim September 17 through 23, 2016, Constitution Week, and ask the citizens of Clarksville to reaffirm the ideals the Framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties.

Kim McMillan, City Mayor

Sylvia Skinner, City Clerk